" Judgement Begins at The House of God "

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Remember Ananias was struck dead on the spot ?
This was a judicial act of the most holy God.

God is most serious about the purity of the church.

Ananias was an early and unforgettable lesson about just how God views sin
among the fellowship of believers.

In essence, God was saying,  "I am not playing church, I will not trifle with sinners.
I am not interested in  "user friendliness".
I desire righteousness, truth, and sincere hearts."

He thus served notice to all that He is "deadly serious" about all sin.
His church is no social gig !!

I can imagine the great fear that came upon the church and the self examination
that soon followed in the Jerusalem church that day.

God was purifying His church,
He wanted His people to take sin seriously,
He wanted to  "discourage shallow commitment".

He wanted people to fear Him and Him alone !!!!
The church is to meet to  "worship God", and that "demands the confrontation of sin."

The Lord gave us the basic model for the church's meeting - sin is dealt with fiercely.
The issue is not what "unbelievers" think about such severity; it is what God thinks
about such iniquity.

Can the church today avoid God's judgement ??
YES - by purifying herself !!

Paul said  "If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:31)

It is the job of faithful church members to to maintain the church's purity.
Frankly, the careful, consistent, exercise of church discipline is a far more
powerful word to unbelievers about reality than some "bland and lighthearted"
talk intended to make unbelievers feel welcome and accepted.

This lets the unbeliever know that the church is a "holy people" and not 
"unrepentant sinners" but for the "redeemed ones" who "love righteousness."

We do all this by following the outline Jesus provided us in (Matthew 18)

KNOWING THE TERROR OF THE LORD, WE WILL PERSUADE MEN !!!!!!